A season of discovery, not disappointment for Dolphins

DAVIE — Raise your hand if you expected the Miami Dolphins to be contending for a playoff spot with a rookie quarterback at the helm.

I beg you to ignore what the Seahawks, Colts and Redskins are doing, and welcome you to the wonderful world of reality if you didn't.

Let me encourage you to not consider 2012 a disappointing season for the 7-8 Dolphins.

Disappointment isn't the appropriate D-word to use when talking about the first year of the Joe Philbin era. It is more fitting to label this a season of discovery for South Florida's NFL franchise.

Be honest . . . we learned so much in '12.

We learned that receiver Brian Hartline can produce a 1,000-yard season if given opportunities he lacked in the past. But the offense clearly needs more playmakers to score more touchdowns.

We discovered life without Jake Long, a four-time Pro Bowler, and the last man standing from the 2008 draft, won't be so bad.

We've concluded the game isn't too big for rookie starter Ryan Tannehill, a converted receiver who started 19 games at quarterback for Texas A&M before becoming the Dolphins' first-round pick.

We can sense that offensive coordinator Mike Sherman is emotionally attached to Tannehill, whom he recruited and coached in college, and will do everything possible to make sure his son - we mean quarterback - succeeds, including babying him.

We found out Reggie Bush is still a viable weapon, especially when he's used in a role similar to the one he played at USC, and with the Saints.

It is impressive that Bush is 40-yards shy of becoming the second tailback in Dolphins history to rush for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, joining Larry Csonka and Ricky Williams. But completely infuriating that it took Miami's coaches six months to figure out how to use the impending free agent properly.

That brings us to this coaching staff, which I've honestly been disappointed with.

"You can understand and see talent that guys have, but there is a certain process you have to go through from a learning standpoint and a teaching standpoint," Sherman said. "The sign of a [good] coach is not making the players fit the scheme but the scheme fit the players and being adaptable to them."

Dolphins owner Steve Ross hired Philbin for two reasons: He was the architect of a very explosive and up-tempo offense in Green Bay, and because he believed Philbin groomed Aaron Rodgers.

Well, it turns out Philbin and his offensive coaches couldn't do anything better with this prehistoric, ball control, talent-strapped offense than Tony Sparano could, and Philbin also admitted he had very little to do with Rodgers' development. That credit belongs to Tom Clements, who replaced him as Green Bay's offensive coordinator.

Dolphins fans better cross their fingers Tannehill develops, and catches up to Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson, his contemporaries, whose clutch play has put their teams in the post season hunt.

This year we discovered Dawn Aponte, the Dolphins' executive vice president of football administration, is far more than the numbers cruncher she was her first two seasons.

Aponte is everywhere, watching everything. She eats and talks to Philbin after every practice. She watches every press conference from a back room at the facility. I can't help but conclude she's Ross' eyes and ears for the team's day-to-day operations.

This team needs to be closely monitored because the clock is ticking on General Manager Jeff Ireland's tenure.

The defense Ireland and former czar Bill Parcells built has most of the ingredients needed to be elite. They are one of the NFL's stingiest team when it comes to red zone defense, defending third downs, stuffing run, and producing sacks. Problem is Kevin Coyle's unit can't play zone coverage effectively, and can't create turnovers.

It should be fun to see what Coyle does with the next batch of cornerbacks the Dolphins sign and draft because it is clear to the non-ball watchers crowed that cornerback is the team's No. 1 issue, not receiver.

On Monday Philbin nearly busted a gut laughing at a question which put "blessing" and "cornerback" in the same sentence. "Blessing" is the last word that should be associated with that group's play this season.

"That's a strong word," Philbin joked. "It is the Christmas season."

But plenty of the team's talent shortfall was by choice considering Ireland traded away Vontae Davis and Brandon Marshall - with Philbin's blessing, if not encouragement - before the season's started.

Those two moves showed us the direction the franchise is headed, which is forward, toward the future, which should be brighter now that Philbin and his coaches have test driven the roster they inherited, and should know exactly what's needed to take the Dolphins to the next level.